


Sunflowers on Purple Cake

by the_ginger_rose



Category: LazyTown
Genre: Birthday, Everyone is nice to robbie, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25198756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_ginger_rose/pseuds/the_ginger_rose
Summary: When the people of LazyTown discover that Robbie Rotten doesn't celebrate his birthday, they decide to give him a surprise party.
Relationships: Robbie Rotten/Sportacus
Comments: 16
Kudos: 109





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> //Hello everyone, and welcome to my latest LazyTown fic! 
> 
> I got the inspiration for this work after talking with people in a LazyTown chat... I had hoped to have the entire work done by July 10th, in honor of Stefan Karl's birthday... but I ended up very unhappy with the direction I had taken the story. I had wanted it to be a cute, happy story... but then I made it horribly angsty, and I just couldn't go on with it. Not that angst isn't good, it's just not what I wanted. As my favorite writing teacher always liked to say, "Don't be afraid to kill your baby!" - at least when it comes to WIPs XD. I wasn't happy with it, so i went back and gutted out everything that didn't work and i'm basically starting over again. At least the first chapter was pretty much fine, so i'm happy to be able to post this on time!
> 
> I hope you all enjoy - i'll try to get the next chapters out quickly!

Robbie stretched his legs out, reclining in his comfy orange chair as he flipped through the channels on his TV. It was a Lazy Saturday morning - the best kind of Saturday mornings in his opinion. He was still in his pajamas, his blankie draped across his lap. His toes wiggled in his slippers as a content smile worked its way onto his face.

He had woken up a little while ago, taking his time in opening his eyes to the lair around him. It was exactly how he had left it when he went to bed last night - the TV running on mute, his machines whirring softly around him. Of course, he had fallen asleep in his chair, so the term ‘going to bed’ wasn’t exactly accurate. He preferred sleeping in his chair. It was as comfy as any bed money could buy - plus he didn’t have to walk _all the way_ to another room just to sleep.

 _Being this lazy takes talent!_ He thought to himself with pride. _And I’m the most talented person in the whole world!_ A big yawn escaped his lips as the TV displayed a nature program.

“ _The African Elephant is the largest-”_

“Booooring,” Robbie said, changing the channel. He skipped past a few stations, stopping at a basketball game.

“ _He passes the ball to LeBron, and he takes a shot from the three-point-line... It goes in!”_

“Eww!” Robbie says, sticking his tongue out as he quickly changed to the next channel. He paused, a devious smile forming on his lips at the juicy soap opera playing on the screen.

“ _Stephano... there’s something I have to tell you. I got my memory back after that horrible bowling accident-”_

“Interesting,” Robbie said, reaching for a bowl on the table next to him without looking away. Last night he had filled it up with cheese balls - and soap opera viewings required snacks. He placed the bowl on his lap before reaching down to grab a handful. His hand fumbled around the container, and his smile quickly turned into a frown. A groan escaped his lips when he looked down.

Somehow he had forgotten that he’d already eaten them all... he scowled as he rolled his eyes. “Why do bad things always happen to me?”

With a put-out sigh he snapped his fingers. In an instant he vanished from his chair, only to reappear next to his snack cupboard. He grumbled to himself as he opened it up to peer in… then he gasped in despair. Internally, he was slapping himself; this was the second week in a row he had forgotten to go shopping. _Way to go, Robbie Rubbish…_ With a groan he browsed over whatever snack options remained.

“Limited edition bag of sour cream puffs, half eaten and... expired,” he said, tossing the bag over his shoulder with a grunt. “Debra Dollop Fruit Pies- eugh, as if I’d eat something with _sportscandy_ in it...”

Besides those two varieties, his cupboard was empty – except for the hundreds of cans worth of ' _Rotten Food_ ' he bought that one time, and he _wasn’t_ going to eat that. _This is stupid… wait, where did I put my cheese balls?_ He glanced around the lair slowly, narrowing his eyes. His gaze turned towards his microwave after a moment. On top of it was the cheese balls container... but it was completely empty.

He whimpered as he approached the empty plastic jar. Robbie had hoped to find at least a few crumbs left, but he was out of luck; he had already licked it clean. As he fell to his knees in despair, he caught a glimpse of himself in the glass of the microwave door. A scowl formed on his face. “You’re a real jerk, I hope you know that!” He said, glaring at his own distorted reflection.

For a while he knelt there, feeling cranky and hungry and tired. He needed to go to the store; Robbie hated shopping on the weekend. Everyone else would be there doing grocery shopping with their kids screaming about this and that, and the aisles would be crowded, and it would be loud. The urge to take a nap filled him just at the thought of it. _Past me must have wanted to see me suffer..._

With a sigh he got to his feet, slouching as he marched over to his disguise machine. _If they’re out of half-baked ice cream again I swear..._ He pulled the lever with a sigh, spinning around and around as his pajamas switched out with his everyday suit. After taking a moment to straighten his vest, he made his way over to a nearby ladder and exited.

It was too bright outside. He squinted as he crossed his arms across his chest. His cozy lair had the perfect dimness - not too dark that he couldn’t see what he was doing when working on inventions, but not too bright that he couldn’t sleep with the lights on. Out here, in _nature_ , the brightness couldn’t be adjusted. You had to just take it, no matter how overwhelming it was.

“People who honestly enjoy being outside are lunatics,” Robbie said, sticking his tongue out at a random tree. He sulked for a few moments, and then began his trek to the store. In his mind he went over all the essential things he’d need to buy. _Cheese balls, potato chips, ice cream, cake, cookies, chocolate, soda…_

He then saw a flash of blue in his peripheral vision. His eyes widened as he started to walk faster, his eyes locked in front of him as he stared at the distant grocery store. _Please let him not see me, please-_

“Robbie!” A voice called out. It was thick with an accent, and disgustingly cheerful. He didn’t need to turn and look to know who had called him; and he didn’t need to turn to know that he was being chased now. Robbie could have run to avoid the quickly approaching footsteps behind him - but Robbie Rotten did not run. Ever.

Instead he dove headfirst into a nearby bush. Sticks and leaves scratched at him as he flattened his stomach against the ground. He stilled, holding his breath and remaining quiet. _He’ll never find me here..._

Robbie screamed as he felt someone grab his ankles, and he was pulled out from under the bush much like a horror movie character being pulled out from under a bed. He clawed at the ground to try and stop his assailant’s attempts, but it was no use. His eyes were wide as he emerged from the bush, his gaze on the stone path. He sensed someone above him, though refused to look up. _If I don’t look then he isn’t there._

“Hi Robbie!” Sportacus said, and Robbie watched the shadow of the man above shift to stand ‘heroically’, hands on his hips. Robbie groaned as he turned onto his back to glare at the superhero.

“Hi.” Robbie said, leaning on his elbows as he sat up slightly. His tone was dry, plain and short. He hoped to convey ‘go away’ vibes without actually saying ‘go away’. Not that he couldn’t say it outright - he just didn’t feel like starting an argument with the smurf. Sportacus was never one to get subtle hints though.

“Are you okay?” Sportacus said, cocking his head to the side slightly as a small frown formed on his face. “It looked like you tripped pretty hard when you fell into that bush.”

Robbie scoffed. The last thing we wanted or needed was this walking, talking blueberry thinking he was clumsy enough to trip. “For your information I _wanted_ to be in this bush, Sportaflop.”

Sportacus tilted his head more, his eyes narrowing as he stared down at the taller man. “Oh really?” He said, his tone hinting slightly as amusement. “What were you doing in the bush then?”

 _What indeed... I’m certainly not going to confess that I was_ hiding _from him!_ Robbie sputtered nervously for a second, his mind racing to find an excuse that wouldn’t make him look like a complete idiot. “I... was just inspecting this... this sportscandy.”

“Sportscandy?” Sportacus said, eyes scanning the bush in curiosity. Robbie nodded, turning to pluck a leaf from the shrub.

“Yes, I was inspecting this... lettuce...” he said, and to really sell his story he placed the leaf in his mouth; and chewed. Almost instantly he spat it out, gagging at the horrible bitter taste it left. It tasted like dirt, and there was a weird fuzzy texture to the leaf that made the awful experience even worse. _Big mistake, big mistake, BIG MISTAKE!_ He coughed and spat until there wasn't even the slightest taste of leaf in his mouth. Then, after he was done gagging, he gave Sportacus a forced smile. “Yep... just as disgusting as I remember... no surprise.”

Sportacus let out a soft chuckle. “Robbie, that wasn’t lettuce. Believe me, actual lettuce tastes wonderful - I can get you some if you’d like.”

“Never in a million years,” Robbie said, slowly getting to his feet. His joints popped and cracked as he did so, and he groaned as pain shot through his stiff body. He grabbed his back as he forced himself to stand straight. A loud crack followed, and Robbie sighed in relief. _That felt good._ Sportacus looked at him in a way that Robbie interpreted as disgust, and he frowned in response. “If you don’t mind, I have things I need to do... so go flip away or something.”

As he turned to leave, Sportacus reached out and grabbed his arm. “Wait, Robbie I need to ask you some questions,” he said. Robbie pulled away and sneered.

“No, I won’t play tag with you. No, I won’t eat sportscandy. No, I won’t try stretching-”

“Oh, no not questions like that,” Sportacus said, a tone to his voice that sounded somewhat sad. He reached behind his back, pulling something out from the weird sports backpack he sometimes wore. It was a clipboard, and on it a strange looking document. There were a lot of words – long words, and a lot of footnotes too. The paper reminded Robbie of that horrible test he had to take that one time he went to school; he shuddered at the memory. Sportacus seemed to sense his nervousness, and he gave the taller man a smile. “I’m helping the mayor conduct a census.”

“A… census? What the heck is that?” Robbie said, glancing between Sportacus and the clipboard. The hero smiled even bigger at the question, turning the document so that Robbie could see. He moved to stand side-by-side with Robbie as well.

“It’s like a questionnaire, Robbie,” Sportacus said, pointing to the paper. “Except the information you give helps the town run more efficient, as well as help keep track of everyone so we know how large our town is getting!”

 _‘Our’ town?_ Robbie rolled his eyes. It used to be _his_ town – and it was only a matter of time before he made it his own once again. He didn’t appreciate his blue crusader coming in and making himself at home; not one bit. “Why would I want to give my information to this… senseless census? Sounds like a silly waste of time.”

Sportacus gave Robbie a look. “Well Robbie, the information the census gathers not only helps the town, but it helps you as well. It means funding for the town – funding to help programs and local businesses. One missed person on our census could mean losing vital funding!”

“Pfft,” Robbie said. “So?”

“So, that means less money going towards things like… bakeries and ice cream shops...”

Robbie paused. He _did_ like bakeries. The town could use a few more doughnut shops in his opinion, though if what Sportacus said was true…

“And programs like child reading groups could be defunded,” Sportacus continued, shrugging as he shook his head. “And tutoring programs too. A lot of activities that have the children _quiet_ and-”

“Alright, you’re speaking my language Sportaflop,” Robbie said, sighing as he held his hands up in defeat. “I’ll help you with the stupid census.”

Sportacus smiled wide, patting Robbie on the back. “Great! Thank you, Robbie!”

“Just get on with the questions,” Robbie said, crossing his arms over his chest as he slouched. He really just wanted to go to the store… his stomach growled softly as he thought of all the snacks he was going to buy. _Chocolate cake… chocolate covered chips… chocolate bars too_. Sportacus clicked a ballpoint pen beside him, and he turned to meet the hero’s gaze.

“Alright Robbie, first… what’s your full name?” Sportacus asked, looking down at the document.

“… Robbie Rotten?” Robbie said, narrowing his gaze at Sportacus. It was a question the hero clearly already knew, and it almost felt patronizing to have been asked. Then Robbie clicked his teeth as he realized his error. “Wait… Robbie is short for Robert.”

“Robert…” Sportacus said, looking up slightly to glance at the villain. The way the hero said his formal name felt odd to Robbie – as if he was testing it out, perhaps even practicing how to say it. No one ever called him Robert though, and to be honest he really _hated_ the name. It was too… adult – too professional and _boring_. ‘Robbie’ flowed off the tongue, and it sounded almost musical when paired with his last name. Sportacus lowered his pen to the clipboard, ready to write. “Do you have a middle name?”

“Why would I have a _middle_ name?” Robbie said, shaking his head as he chuckled at what he deemed a ridiculous question. “I already have two- Robbie and Rotten.”

Sportacus wrote down something quietly, the scratching on the paper the only sound between the two men. Robbie watched the hero write out his name, noting the man’s penmanship. _His handwriting is so sloppy… though that's what i'd expect from someone like_ him. _It's a miracle he can stand still long enough to write something even remotely legible._ A small sigh escaped Sportacus’s lips as he finished writing. “Alright. Now, should I write your address as ‘behind the billboard’ or do you have an official street number?”

“Uh… ‘behind the billboard’ is fine,” Robbie said, scratching his head. Sportacus wrote that down.

“Perfect. And it’s just you living there?” Sportacus said.

 _What do you think, Sportajerk? That I have a secret wife and kids down there?_ Robbie fought the urge to scowl at the hero. “You already know the answer to that.”

Sportacus frowned as he wrote something down. “I have ‘male’ selected as your gender, and ‘white’ as your race – is that correct?”

“Yes, yes, that’s fine,” Robbie said, tapping his foot as he glanced over at the grocery store. All this census talk was making him bored… and hungry. _Maybe I should buy something from the deli and eat that first before doing my shopping. Yeah, that sounds good. A nice slice of cake, and a soda… maybe some chips too._

“How old are you Robbie?” Sportacus asked, drawing Robbie out of his food fantasy. His eyes widened, both from shock as well as offense.

“What?” Robbie said, glowering at the hero. Sportacus glanced up from his paper with a raised brow.

“Uh… how old are you? I need to know for the census,” Sportacus said, his voice slow and patient. Robbie rolled his eyes. It was rude to ask someone their age… especially someone who couldn’t remember that information. His brow furrowed as he brought his hand up to his chin. He lost track of his age a long time ago – it wasn’t like he could be bothered to remember to add a number every single year of his life! That was his mom’s job to do, since she was the one that put the candles on his birthday cake… or at least, she _had_ done that…

 _How old_ am _I?_ Robbie thought, frowning as he tapped his fingers to his lips. _Something tells me it ends with a seven… eleventy seven? Fourteen seven?_

_Or was it an eight…_

“… I don’t know,” Robbie admitted, staring down at the ground. He felt Sportacus’s eyes on him, though didn’t return the gaze. _I probably sound like an idiot…_

“… That’s fine if you don’t remember Robbie,” Sportacus said after a long pause. “How about you tell me your birthday – maybe I can have the mayor look up some records for you and we can figure it out. Is that alright?”

Robbie nodded slowly, his shoulders rising and falling as he let out a deep breath. “I don’t remember the year… that probably doesn’t help much. July Tenth is the day though.”

Sportacus stilled, looking at Robbie in shock. The villain gave him a confused look. _Is there something on my face? A zit? Am I just that funny looking?_

“Robbie,” Sportacus said after a moment. “That’s the day after tomorrow.”

Now it was Robbie’s turn to go still. He thought for a moment, trying to recall the date; he was never really good at remembering what day it was, or what time it was either. Usually his calendar reminded him… but he didn’t have the chance to look that morning. After a while he remembered something he did the day before. He’d cut out a newspaper article, a juicy piece about Sportacus getting a speeding ticket. He had a scrapbook – all of Sportacus’s greatest blunders – and thought that would be a good edition. The date on the article had been July Seventh, meaning that today had to be the Eighth.

And two days from now was the Tenth. “Huh, I guess it is,” Robbie said, his mouth quirking to the side as he acknowledged the fact.

Sportacus shook his head, an exasperated smile forming on his face. “Well… aren’t you excited?”

Robbie frowned, giving the hero a blank stare. “Why would I be?”

The hero gave him an amused look – almost playful if not equally confused. “I mean, aren’t you going to celebrate? Have a party?”

_A party?_

_Him?_

_A_ birthday _party?_

The idea was an absurd concept knocking around his mind. Robbie Rotten didn’t do parties… At least, he hadn’t in a long time…

His mind wandered as he remembered a distant birthday. He couldn’t remember what birthday it was exactly – though his hair was nothing more than short curls on his head and his front teeth were missing. He couldn’t have been any older than that Ziggo kid in town or whatever his name was.

That morning he had been woken up late by his mother, and she gave him breakfast in bed: pancakes smothered in syrup. Then his mother dressed him up in a special new suit with buttons that had ‘RR’ carved on them; she sewed it herself just for him. Together they baked a cake with tons of frosting, and they ate it while she read him a book about fairy tales… and then, she gave him a special present; his first sewing kit.

_“For me?” Robbie said, his eyes lighting up with excitement as he clutched the small purple box in his hands. “All for me, mama?”_

_“Of course,” his mother said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. “Now you don’t have to borrow mama’s sewing supplies when you want to make yourself some costumes. And as an extra surprise, I got you some fabric that’s all yours to use. No more cutting up curtains, or mama’s dresses.”_

_Robbie smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry…”_

_“It’s okay, sweetheart,” his mother said, kissing his forehead. “I’m not mad at you, I love how passionate you are about your little disguises. Now you can be creative without any limit – though maybe warn me when you’re making monster outfits, alright? You know how scary those can get.”_

_“Yes mama, I promise,” Robbie said, giving his mother a big hug. He smiled; the warmth of her arms was more soothing than his special blankie – thousands of times more soothing. A sigh escaped his lips as he squeezed her a little harder. “I love you.”_

_“I love you too…”_

Robbie’s arms fell to his sides, his hands trembling as a horrible feeling of sadness filled him. _Me? Have a party?_ It had to be a joke; a horrible, mean joke. He couldn’t even remember that last birthday he celebrated – and there was a good reason for it. It wasn’t that he didn’t _want_ to celebrate…

He couldn’t.

“Robbie?” Sportacus said, a look of concern flashing on his face. “Are you okay? Did I say something to upset you?”

_Am I okay? Why bother asking? You wouldn’t get it._

Everyone loved Sportacus; he was their hero. They worshiped the ground that he walked on without him even asking – he was the one that had birthday parties, in fact they gave him _surprise_ birthday parties with disgusting sportscandy cake just because of how ‘great’ he was. Sportacus was the pinnacle of their highest expectations, the perfect human.

Robbie? Robbie was a villain, a nuisance. No one liked him, and even if he _did_ have a party no one would come; even if he begged them. Sportacus didn’t seem to _get_ that – or perhaps he did and was just ‘trying to be nice’ like the goody two shoes he was. That’s what drove Robbie up the wall. Everyone else in town had no problem in being upfront with their hatred of him. At least they were honest, but _this jerk_?

He was basically lying to his face.

“... Leave me alone,” Robbie said, his eyes narrowing as his lips quivered.

Sportacus’s eyes widened. “What?”

“You heard me,” Robbie said, spinning on his heels before marching towards the grocery store. To his relief, no footsteps followed him. He hoped that Sportacus was left in shock, his stupid mouth ajar as he stood there wondering why his false hospitality didn’t work. _Let him stand there. Let him be confused. It’s not like I care… why would I care?_

A shaky sigh escaped his lips.

_I’m their villain._


	2. Chapter 2

Sportacus walked up the steps of town hall. Normally he might have done a flip, cartwheeling into the mayor’s office instead of taking the stairs... but his mind was preoccupied. He wasn’t in the mood for exercise - a rare occurrence for the hero. He approached the front door slowly, opening it with his free hand. In his other hand was his clipboard. He’d collected information about all the townspeople - Ziggy’s household, Pixel’s household, Trixie’s household as well as Stingy’s...

And Robbie. A frown was plastered on his face as he stepped into the building. He was greeted by an exasperated sigh from the mayor, the naturally anxious man fidgeting with his hands. Stephanie was there as well, her attention on a coloring book. She smiled when she saw him.

“Hi Sportacus!” She said, closing the book and setting down her crayons.

“Oh Sportacus, thank heavens! Did you get the census information for me?” The Mayor said, getting up from his desk to approach the hero. His brow was creased with worry lines, no doubt from a lifetime of anxiety. He would never point them out of course... though he might have recommended meditation to help him learn to relax. Right now, he had other concerns though.

“Yes, Mr. Mayor - everyone is accounted for,” Sportacus said as he gave him a halfhearted smile.

“Thank you! Thank you!” The Mayor said, placing a hand on his chest as if out of breath. “I am so sorry for asking you to do that. It completely slipped my mind that Miss Busybody requested the afternoon off today, and I need to send that information out tomorrow - oh, you are a godsend!”

“It’s no problem, Mr. Mayor. I’m always happy to help.” Sportacus said, placing a hand on the man’s shoulder. He handed the clipboard to the Mayor, who took it with slightly trembling hands.

“Sportacus,” Stephanie said, approaching the hero. In her hands was her coloring book. She opened it to a newly colored page - a ballerina, which she gave a purple dress and dark brown hair. “Look what I did! I made her look like the dancer Robbie brought to the dance competition.”

 _Robbie..._ he gave her a smile, despite the storm of questions and emotions in his mind. “That looks great, Stephanie.”

She looked up at him, her brow furrowed and her mouth quirking into a slight frown. “Are you okay?” She said, her head tilting to the side. “You look a little upset...”

Sportacus shook his head, sighing slightly as his shoulders rose and fell. He wasn’t sure what to say exactly - or if he should say anything at all. Robbie seemed to be pretty upset; and he didn’t want to make him feel worse by talking behind his back. _I have a lot of questions though... questions that, if answered, could maybe fix this problem..._

“I’m fine... it’s just that I had an odd conversation with Robbie.”

“Robbie Rotten?” the mayor said, placing the clipboard down on his desk before sitting at his chair. “What were you two talking about?”

“The census,” Sportacus said, shifting as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I was just asking him the same questions I asked everyone else... it was going fine, but then out of nowhere he got upset. He just told me to leave him alone and stormed off.”

“Really?” Stephanie said, her mouth gaping slightly. “That wasn’t very nice of him...”

“Well, it’s Robbie Rotten we’re talking about,” the mayor said, sighing as he flipped through the pages of information Sportacus filled out. Robbie’s information was at the bottom; he noticed the mayor shake his head at the half-completed page before flipping the other pages back over it. “Perhaps he got bored?”

“… No, I don’t think that’s it,” Sportacus said with a pensive frown. He thought for a moment, going over the conversation in his head. After a moment he remembered something, and snapped his fingers. “He got really defensive when I asked about his age...”

“His age?” The mayor said, chuckling slightly to himself. “I know Miss Busybody would get defensive about a question like that, but Robbie? I never guessed he was the type to be sensitive about getting old.”

Sportacus sighed. Robbie was a very… fashionable man, though he didn’t quite think that was the right word for it. From his disguises to his everyday attire, Robbie seemed to care quite a bit about his appearance. It was a weird exception for the otherwise lazy man – Sportacus knew though that even the least motivated people could have passions that drove them to get out of bed in the morning... fashion was Robbie’s passion.

Sportacus didn’t think that Robbie was self-absorbed in any distinct sense however, so he doubted that the man was sensitive about his age... especially due to the _unique_ problem involving his memory of said fact.

“I don’t think he’s upset about aging, since it seems that he doesn’t remember how old he is,” Sportacus said, glancing at the mayor. “He had absolutely no idea… Speaking of which, would you mind finding some records on Robbie, Mr. Mayor? I wasn’t able to get all the information needed for the census - such as his birth year.”

“How can someone not know how old they are?” Stephanie said, a confused frown on her face as she looked up at Sportacus. He gave her an equally confused shrug in response.

“Well, it can get harder as you get older,” the mayor said, getting up from his desk to walk over to a nearby filing cabinet. A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he opened the bottom drawer. “Though I usually remember by counting the candles on my birthday cake!”

_Birthday..._

“That’s another thing,” Sportacus said, bringing his hand up to his chin. “His birthday is the day after tomorrow... did you know about that mayor?”

“What?” The mayor said, looking up from deep within the file drawer. Some files flew up and out from the cabinet, as if to emphasize the flustered tone the Mayor’s voice had. “I had _no_ idea. Maybe I forgot? Oh dear... maybe that’s why he’s so upset!”

“I didn’t know about his birthday either…” Stephanie said, frowning as her confusion turned to concern.

“No, I don’t think he’s angry about that… because he _also_ forgot about his own birthday,” Sportacus said as he shook his head. “And when he realized, he didn’t look excited at all - as if it was just another day of the week. It was when I asked him if he was going to celebrate that he got _really_ upset.”

Stephanie bit her lip. “Maybe… maybe he just got frustrated because he thought of all the stuff he’d have to do to prepare for a birthday party so quickly!”

Sportacus considered that, his mouth quirking to the side. He tried to remember back to around this time last year… though for some reason, he couldn’t recall anything about a party. Of course, Robbie could have just not invited him – he _did_ consider Sportacus a nemesis after all. 

None of the children seemed to mention a party either though... Robbie liked things quiet, so the party could have been an adult’s only affair. _If it’s a really formal type of party, a lot of work probably has to go into it… that_ could _be why he was so upset._

“Mr. Mayor, did you go to Robbie’s birthday party last year?”

The mayor paused, his gaze shifting upwards thoughtfully. “Uh… no. I don’t seem to recall going to his party last year… or the year before that… or any year, now that I think about it.”

“Really?” Sportacus said, his frown only growing deeper. _So, Robbie has never invited the mayor to his birthday before…_ Besides him and the Mayor, Bessy was the only other adult he could think of that would have been invited. “Did Miss Busybody go?”

“No, I don’t think she did,” the Mayor said, shaking his head. “Believe me, she talks about _every_ party she goes to – she would have told me about his party… though, she also tells me about parties she _didn’t_ go to as well. If anyone is having a party, no matter how hard they try to keep it a secret, she will know about it. I have never once heard her mention a party involving Robbie.”

“What?” Sportacus was growing more and more confused by the second. He thought of the possibility of his birthday being a quiet family event… but Robbie had no family living in LazyTown. _He made that clear during the census… maybe they live elsewhere?_

“What about any relatives of Robbie’s visiting town to celebrate?”

“Oh, no that’s not possible,” the mayor said, pulling a file out from the cabinet with a sigh. The file was thick, and it had a big letter ‘R’ stamped on the front. “The Rotten’s are an old family of LazyTown – their heritage goes way back, and they _never_ left LazyTown. They were far too lazy to leave… in fact, I believe the town might have been named ‘LazyTown’ because of just how lazy they were!”

“ _Were?_ ” Sportacus said, his brow quirking as he eyed the folder in the mayor’s hand. It was stained a dusty brown, the corners on the file crinkled and torn. The numerous papers within looked like _ancient_ parchment.

“Yes, were _,_ ” The mayor said, dropping the folder down onto his desk. A plume of dust flew upward, indicating the age of the contents within. “They got lazier and lazier, so lazy in fact that they stopped getting married and having children because it was too much work… and now, it’s just Robbie left. It’s a shame really, seeing a part of our town’s history almost gone forever.”

That made Sportacus’s heart hurt. He understood how lonely not being around family was – after all, he was a traveling hero. It had been years since he’d been back home… But Robbie didn’t have _any_ family, not even distant relations. _And if he doesn’t have a family to celebrate with…_

“… That must mean he didn’t have a party _at all_ last year… and it probably means he won’t have one this year either.”

“No birthday party?!” Stephanie said, her mouth ajar. “That’s so sad… why wouldn’t Robbie have a party?”

Sportacus looked at the floor, sighing. He knew that sometimes adults choose to not have birthday parties. It could be hard to get friends together when everyone had a different schedule and responsibilities… but Robbie didn’t really have a schedule, at least not one that Sportacus was aware of – certainly he would have the time to have a party, even if it was just a little one.

And something about the way Robbie had looked earlier made Sportacus think that he _did_ want to celebrate; he wouldn’t have gotten sad otherwise. He nodded as the puzzle started to come together. _That’s why he was upset – he wants to celebrate his birthday…_

_So why doesn’t he? What’s holding him back?_

Maybe Robbie’s schedule wasn’t the issue… of course, there wasn’t a single person in LazyTown who couldn’t make time for a party. Everyone loved to celebrate, especially the kids. Sportacus knew that Robbie wasn’t the biggest fan of the kids though... but he _did_ remember that one time Robbie came to Ziggy’s party. He _saw_ that Robbie had a good time; he saw it in the way the man smiled…

He didn’t think Robbie would dislike having a party with the kids, and probably wouldn’t have had a problem with inviting them. The kids would have happily gone to the party too – in fact, not a single person in LazyTown would miss Robbie’s birthday party if he invited them…

His eyes widened as a thought occurred to him.

_Does… does he not know that?_

People in town _did_ tend to act cross with Robbie. Of course, no one was ever truly _angry_ at Robbie – mostly they were just frustrated with his ‘villainous’ schemes and plots. In fact, Sportacus himself sometimes used a stern tone with Robbie, but only if one of his inventions or plots nearly harmed one of the kids. He didn’t _hate_ Robbie though… quite the opposite in fact.

But did Robbie know that? Could it be that Robbie actually thought that people _hated_ him? If he truly did think that…

“Oh no,” Sportacus said, bringing a hand up to his forehead. Everything made sense now. The way Robbie had reacted… could it be that he thought Sportacus was _making fun_ of him by asking? Robbie might have seen Sportacus’s question as a sarcastic attack instead of a genuine inquiry – and him getting upset was an obvious reaction to feeling attacked. “I think Robbie might have the wrong idea about how people think of him… and I think that might be why he doesn’t have birthday parties.”

“What do you mean?” Stephanie said, shaking her head. “I like Robbie – I think he’s a bit cranky, but deep down he’s a good person. That’s how everyone in LazyTown feels about him, right?”

Sportacus sighed. “I don’t think he knows that, Stephanie…”

Her eyes widened as she looked at the floor. Sportacus watched as her mind seemed to race, her eyes focused far away. The Mayor fidgeted with his hands as he looked down too. “Well… perhaps we should tell him how we really feel?” the Mayor said, a hesitant smile forming on his face.

“No,” Stephanie said, drawing the attention of both the Mayor and Sportacus. Before either of them could question her, she looked up with a determined expression – one that Sportacus knew all too well. “We should _show_ him.”

“What do you mean?” the Mayor said, tilting his head slightly.

“We should give Robbie a surprise party!” Stephanie said, giving the Mayor a big smile. She turned the smile towards Sportacus too, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “Everyone can pitch in, and we can throw it right here in town hall!”

Sportacus brought his hand to his chin. _A surprise party_ ? _I think that would be a wonderful thing to do for him... but it won’t do any good if Robbie thinks otherwise._

He thought of how Robbie would react towards something like that. The last thing he wanted was Robbie thinking that the gesture had some kind of ulterior motive… would he think it was a joke, much like he seemed to think Sportacus’s question was? He certainly hoped not – but with Robbie there was no telling just how he’d take it.

“Stephanie, maybe that’s not-”

“I’m gonna go get everyone and bring them here so we can plan!” Stephanie said, racing out of the building before he could finish his sentence.

“Stephanie!” Sportacus said, calling after her as she raced off towards her friends’ houses. It was no use – she was already far out of earshot. A sigh escaped his lips as he shook his head.

“What’s the matter, Sportacus?” the Mayor said, sitting down at his desk once more. He opened the big folder slowly, a comically large amount of dust falling from the old pages within. Both Sportacus and the Mayor coughed as the cloud dissipated. “Oof… sorry. I forget how old these files are sometimes.”

“It’s fine,” Sportacus said, waving his hand dismissively. “I’m just… worried. I don’t want Stephanie to go through all the trouble only for things to go… well, badly.”

“What could possibly go wrong with a surprise party?” the mayor said, flipping through some of the documents in the file. “Well… the surprise part could go wrong…”

Sportacus frowned. He wanted to see Robbie happy – the man certainly deserved more happiness in his life. A party could be just the thing he needed, but it needed to be executed just right… how to execute it though was a mystery to the hero.

“Maybe… maybe I should try talking to Robbie again.”

The sound of approaching footsteps caused both the hero and the mayor to turn, eyes meeting the door just as it slammed open. In came Miss Busybody, shopping bags on both of her arms and a glint in her eyes. She gave the mayor an excited look. “What’s this I hear about a _party_?” 


	3. Chapter 3

Robbie grunted as he lifted a piece of scrap onto his workbench. It was heavy, with odd bits of nails and springs sticking out of it. To most people, the scrap would look like nothing more than garbage – but to Robbie, it was the perfect material to make his next brilliant invention.

He had thought of it the night before while eating his emotions. The conversation he had earlier that afternoon made him snakish… though a lot of things made him feel snakish, but he especially felt the need to down some cake and ice cream after his horrible experience with Sportaflop. While he ate he watched some soap operas, and an ad for a cotton candy machine came on during the commercial break. It made him crave cotton candy, and he soon found himself wishing that clouds were made of cotton candy…

And then he seriously started considering the possibilities of a machine that turned the weather into candy – it would be the perfect plan to get rid of Sportacus! He would turn the clouds into cotton candy, and the rain into lemon lime soda, and to top it all off he would turn snow into ice cream… tears welled up in his eyes at the mere thought of something so wonderful. But the best part of it all would be that Sportacus would have to leave town!

Since his airship was up in the sky, the cotton candy clouds would cause Sportacus to have a sugar meltdown. He would have no choice but to land the ship in town… and then Robbie would have it rain and snow the soda and ice cream, and Sportacus be trapped inside and unable to save anyone. He would be so humiliated that he’d have no other choice but to leave. It was the most brilliant plan ever – plus Robbie would be able to eat all the cotton candy clouds he wanted!

A happy tune escaped his lips as he piled more scrap onto his workbench. He sighed, arranging the haphazard pile in no particular order before walking over towards his giant hammer. It was hard to lift, but he managed to carry it over to his work bench; his knees wobbled as he lifted the mallet over his head.

Then a knock came at his hatch door. His eyes widened as he found himself falling backwards under the weight of the hammer. He stumbled into his chair, which then fell over; his body did backwards somersaults until he crashed into a nearby wall.  _ Ouch… _ he slowly got to his knees as he nursed his now sore back.  _ That’s going to leave a bruise – a big, horrible purple bruise! _

Another knock sounded throughout the lair. Robbie glared up, crossing his arms as he scoffed. “Who’s bothering me so early in the day?!”

His gaze shifted over to a clock; the time read 2:15 in the afternoon. Robbie himself had only gotten up half an hour ago – he hadn’t even had breakfast yet! He rolled his eyes as he got to his feet, turning and marching towards the ladder leading out of his lair. A scowl formed on his lips as he scurried up towards the hatch.  _ It better not be someone trying to sell me something, or someone trying to talk to me about the healing power of vegetables… _

He lifted the hatch with a loud, irritated grunt before peering out at whoever was disturbing him; no one was there. After swiveling his head around back and forth, someone cleared their throat slightly below his field of vision. Hesitantly he looked down… and saw the pigtailed girl. Trixie was her name. In her hands were a small notebook and pen; an amused smirk was on her face.

“Hello Robbie,” she said, looking him up and down slightly. “Nice pajamas…”

Robbie looked down, remembering that he hadn’t changed out of his bed robe yet. An embarrassed blush warmed his face as he quickly closed the hatch. With a snap of his fingers he was in his normal clothes, and he reopened the hatch with an annoyed frown. “What do you want, Trofie?”

“Trixie,” she said, her eyes narrowing.

“Whatever,” Robbie said, rolling his eyes. “I’m kinda in the middle of a… project of sorts. Why don’t you run along and play with your little friends, huh? Whatever it is you want or whatever you’re selling I’m not interested.”

Trixie gave him a teasing smile as she crossed her arms. “What if I told you I was selling Lazy Scout cookies?”

Robbie paused. “… are you?”

“Nope,” Trixie said before letting out a snort. Robbie scowled, his eyes narrowing at the cruel trick.  _ They don’t call her Trixie for nothing apparently…  _ he shook his head before beginning to climb back down the ladder.

“Go away now, little child,” he said as he lowered the hatch.

“No, no wait!” Trixie said, reaching a hand out to him. He waited, peering at her through the now barely open trap door. She was silent for a second, flipping open the notebook and clicking her pen. “I need your help with a school project – I have to write this  _ big _ report over the summer… can you help me with a few questions?”

Robbie stuck out his tongue as he reopened the hatch. “A report? That sucks… but I already did my time, little girl. Don’t go thinking that I’ll write your report for you-”

“I know, I know,” Trixie said with a sigh, shaking her head. “I’m not here to ask you to write it for me, Robbie - I’m here to interview you.”

That took Robbie aback, his eyes widening slightly. “Interview… me?”

“Yeah  _ you _ ,” Trixie said, chuckling as she brought her pen up to her notebook. “I have to write a report on someone I ‘look up to’ in LazyTown. Everyone else is doing Sportacus or the Mayor, and that’s so  _ boring _ … you’re far more interesting.”

He couldn’t help but feel flattered. Someone in LazyTown looked up to him? A  _ kid _ looked up to him – one of the same kids that worshiped the ground Sportacus walked on? His heart fluttered a bit as a shy smile worked its way onto his face. Trixie reminded him a lot of himself, at least with the little pranks she pulled around town. It seemed natural that if any of the kids were to look up to him, it would be her. 

“O-Okay… uh, what are these ‘questions’ you have?”

“Well…” Trixie said, glancing down at her notepad. “What is your favorite color?”

A small frown formed on Robbie’s lips. “My favorite  _ color _ ?”

“Yeah,” Trixie said, nodding as she glanced back up at him. “I need to write about what you like, not just about all the cool schemes and stuff you do.”

_ Cool… she thinks my schemes are cool?  _ He found himself fidgeting with his hands. “Uh, well my favorite color is purple… though I also enjoy orange a bit.”

“Orange, huh?” Trixie said as she brought her pen to her lips. “Interesting – I never saw you as an ‘orange’ fan. Care to go into detail on what you like about it?”

“Well, my chair is orange… and my rug is orange too, as well as my lamp and my phone and my pillow. I also have a few orange lights down in my lair… I don’t know how to describe  _ why  _ I like it; I just do. It’s… calming.”

“Calming… Okay cool, purple and orange!” Trixie said, writing down a few things in her notebook. “Now… I  _ think _ I already know the answer to this, but what’s your favorite food?”

“Cake,  _ of course _ ,” Robbie said, nearly scoffing at the question as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Any type will do – triple double chocolate, very vanilla velvet…  _ purple whipped cream dream _ …”

Trixie snickered as she wrote that down. “You sure do love sweets, huh? Ziggy is the most obsessed person I know when it comes to sugar, but you’re a close second. Now, it’s always really  _ dangerous  _ when I ask Ziggy this type of question – so don’t you go catatonic on me – but how would you describe your  _ dream  _ cake?”

A small smirk formed on Robbie’s face. “Oh, don’t get me started… oh, who am I kidding? Picture this – five layers. Each layer right on top of the other so when you cut a slice, you get a glorious piece of heaven that is over a foot tall! None of that tiered cake nonsense, because with tiered cakes you have to cut it all weird and work from the top down – and then the stuff on the bottom only has a little bit of frosting because the top layers were covering it!”

“Oh?” Trixie said, writing something down quickly. “Continue…”

“The cake itself is purple velvet, but in between each layer is a different icing: buttercream, amaretto cream, vanilla cream, and  _ Bavarian cream…  _ it’s iced with whipped cream, sprinkled with candy pearls and finished off with frosting flowers – which  _ have  _ to be sunflowers.”

“Sunflowers?” Trixie said, her mouth gaping slightly.

_ Oops… don’t get carried away, genius…  _ Robbie paused, a tint of rouge on his face. “Yes, uh… they’re my favorite.”

He half expected her to laugh at him, saying ‘boys can’t like flowers’ or something equally ignorant and mean. However, she just looked down and wrote silently.

“I like dandelions...” she said after a moment. Her voice grew shy, unlike the normally brash tone her words carried. “I think they’re nice – really yellow and fluffy, and even fluffier when they get all puffy and white. Then you can blow on them and they fly away to make more little yellow fluffs… for some reason though no one else likes them, and they call them  _ weeds _ . I really hate that – and I  _ hate  _ it when they mayor tells me not to blow on them because it ‘ruins the town’ or something else equally stupid. That’s why I blow them into his yard when he’s not looking! Maybe if he gets overrun he’ll give up and leave them alone…”

Robbie was silent after hearing that, his brow raising as he looked down at her. It was like hearing himself through the voice and mind of a child – except where he would complain about Sportacus and his attack on laziness, she was complaining about the Mayor and his attack on flowers. The two of them really weren’t that much different… and that part about revenge against the mayor made a strange swelling of pride fill his chest.  _ How deliciously evil… _

“You’re a good kid,” he found himself saying before he could stop himself. His body went rigged, and a twinge of panic filled him.  _ Oh no… I shouldn’t have said that – I gotta be the villain here! I can’t ruin my reputation by being nice to little girls! _

She didn’t seem to sense his stress though, and instead flashed him a toothy grin. She was missing one of her front teeth – and for some reason Robbie thought the gap made her smile more endearing. “You’re a good villain,” she said, bouncing slightly as she tilted her head.

_ Me? _

_ Good? _

Robbie’s nose twitched slightly as he looked away, not knowing how to process the compliment. He thought about the time Stephanie had written about him in her diary – about him being a softie. It had made him feel so flattered, so  _ warm  _ inside, and the praise wasn’t forced out of politeness; she had genuinely believed such a nice thing about him. He felt kinda  _ loved  _ in a way. That feeling filled him now, only this time it was stronger. Trixie had looked him in the eye and  _ complimented  _ him to his face. People didn’t just… give him compliments. Hearing one so unprompted was a foreign experience to him; but it felt  _ nice _ .

It was a while before Trixie readdressed him, writing down a great deal of information. He heard her flip the page on her notebook, and he looked over at her as her own gaze lifted. 

“Okay, I have  _ one  _ last question Robbie… what are your top five favorite pranks?”

He brought his hand up to his chin as he thought about it for a moment. “Gosh, just five? Let’s see… digging holes in town for someone to fall in, that’s one. Two, uh… can’t go wrong with a good old fashioned whoopie cushion prank of course. For three I gotta say itching powder – I haven’t used that gag since I was a kid though. They stopped making the good stuff  _ years _ ago; today’s ‘itching power’ is just ‘mild irritation’ powder if you ask me.”

“You know, I’ve noticed the same thing,” Trixie said as she shook her head. “I tried using itching powder I bought at a gag store once and it did next to nothing.” 

“Don’t even bother with commercial itching power these days,” Robbie said as he waved his hands dismissively. “However, if you ever chance upon a canister of ‘Muchas Mucuna Mayhem’ then you are in for the laugh of your life!”

“Muchas Mucuna Mayhem…” Trixie barely whispered the name as she wrote that down. “Alright, you have two pranks left!”

“Four is prank calling, but you  _ gotta _ know your victims,” Robbie said, talking animatedly with his hands as he really started to get into the conversation. “For example, call the mayor’s office during his lunch hour – Bussy or whatever her name is will be there answering the phones. She always takes messages for the mayor, no matter how stupid the messages are. The best prank call I ever did was call claiming to be from the president's office. I told her to let the mayor know that the president was coming to tour LazyTown. It was the funniest thing watching him run around panicking thinking that the president was actually coming to town!”

Trixie let out a loud laugh, clutching her pen and notebook to her chest. She snorted as she laughed – it was kinda cute, if Robbie could call the children ‘cute’ in any sense. They were still walking, screaming noise machines…

But Trixie wasn’t all that bad.

“Okay, I’m  _ definitely _ going to use that tip and pull a prank of my own,” Trixie said as she wrote down a rapid scribble of words. He watched her write, noticing the way she stuck her tongue out as she focused on her paper. It was a little while before she looked back up at him, her eyes glinting deviously. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that she was already plotting a great trick. “Okay Robbie,  _ one  _ more.”

“One more,” he repeated, narrowing his eyes. “Hmm… Well, what else can I talk about besides my disguises? Though, I wouldn’t call what I do with them  _ pranks _ , since my schemes are far too complex to be mere jokes! One time though… I disguised myself as a repairman and walked into town hall. I told them I was there to fix the drinking fountains around town, and needed access to the water lines supplying each fountain.”

Trixie paused as she looked up at him with wide eyes. “No… don’t  _ tell  _ me… you couldn’t possibly be the  _ Hershey Heckler _ , could you?!”

An evil grin formed on Robbie’s face. “Couldn’t I? Who else could have had the  _ gall _ to put 10,000 gallons worth of chocolate syrup in the water lines – supplying every fountain in town with chocolate for a  _ month _ ?” Robbie said, pausing before laughing maniacally. He placed his hands on his hips, puffing out his chest much in the same way Sportacus might have done during one of his ‘heroic’ stances. In a way, he felt like a hero; a hero to the town’s junior prankster.

It was a moment before his laugh died off, and he slouched with a satisfied sigh. Trixie was in complete awe as she looked up at him. “You are a legend…”

“Thank you, thank you,” Robbie said, placing one hand on his chest as he waved dramatically with the other. “It takes skill to be this  _ bad _ …”

She rolled her eyes slightly at his theatrics before closing her notebook. “Okay, Mr. Evil, come back down to earth – I gotta go start writing my report now.”

Robbie nodded. He felt a little sad, knowing that the conversation was ending. It had been a long time since he had such an engaging conversation with someone – at least without him being in disguise. Who would have thought that one of the brats could be so…

Nice.

A frown formed on his face as he watched her shove her pen in the spiral of her notebook. “Good luck,” he said, hiding the disappointment from his voice. “I-If you have any more questions, don’t be afraid to ask. I wouldn’t want you to fail your report or anything…”

“I’ll make sure to do that,” she said, giving him another smile. With that, she turned to leave, though paused one more time to glance at Robbie. “Thank you.”

_ Thank me? _

“Of course, Trixie,” he said, waving her goodbye.

She was silent for a moment, a mischievous glint formed in her eyes. “By the way… Stephanie is selling Lazy Scout cookies outside the store today…”

He couldn’t help but return with an amused smirk. “Is she really?”

“Nope,” Trixie said, turning with a chuckle to skip back into town. 


	4. Chapter 4

_ Something must be wrong with me… _

Robbie swallowed, biting his lip as he emerged from his lair. His eyes shifted around as if daring someone to come into view. He narrowed his eyes, crawling over the side of the hatch as his head turned left and right. No one was there though… and after a few seconds of scrutinizing the back end of the billboard he sighed.

_ Something’s  _ definitely  _ wrong with me. _

He prided himself in how lazy he was. No one was as lazy as he was! Heck, if they gave out trophies for laziness he would win the biggest, most shiniest trophy of them all! He napped, he slouched, he ate energy  _ draining  _ food for crying out loud, and he went out of his way to do the  _ least _ amount of activity as possible…

And yet, for some  _ crazy  _ reason, he had a peculiar desire to stroll through town. Him, Robbie Rotten,  _ wanted _ to  _ walk _ ! He needed a doctor, an ambulance, a lobotomy or something because he was  _ clearly  _ going insane. It would all be downhill from there... Next he would start having cravings for  _ carrots  _ and  _ water _ , and then he’d try to do handstands- ugh, Handstands! He’d stop shaving and grow a horrible mustache and a silly little hat and…

He took a deep breath.  _ Keep it together Robbie…  _ he closed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.  _ One stupid little walk won’t turn me into a Sportaflop clone… it would take  _ many  _ walks to do that! And this is  _ definitely  _ a one-time thing. _

Just one walk… though even for Robbie that was a lot. He even avoided  _ standing  _ if he could. It was rather frightening to go from wanting to lay down at every waking moment to suddenly wanting physical activity, even if it was just a  _ little  _ activity. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out where this crazy desire came from…

Actually he could, but he would never admit it out loud. He tried his best to force the thoughts out of his mind… though after spending half an hour down in his lair with a  _ ridiculous  _ grin on his face, it became obvious that he couldn’t ignore it. Talking to Trixie felt… good. It reminded him of how LazyTown used to be, before Pinkie and Smurf boy moved into town.

Before they came, people respected him. The kids would listen to him, sometimes they would ask him questions, though mostly they just left him in peace. He had felt  _ accepted _ – occasionally a role model in laziness, but more or less an ordinary member of the community.

He had missed that feeling.

And no matter what Sportaflop said or did, this was  _ his  _ town too… even if he didn’t always feel welcome in it. Why  _ shouldn’t  _ he enjoy a stroll through town? Heck, maybe he’d stop by Slerp for a milkshake and sit on a bench and  _ enjoy _ the sunshine, and maybe if the kids were playing a game in the sports field he’d stay and watch… Robbie brought a hand to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose with a soft groan.

_ Okay,  _ that’s _ a little bit far… but a small walk surely won’t hurt me - if nothing else it would give me time to brainstorm ideas for my invention… _

“… ten minutes. Just ten minutes, then it’s back to work,” he said, gesturing with his hands almost absentmindedly. He held up… what he assumed was ten fingers, though no one was around to tell him otherwise if he was wrong. He hoped no one would be around during his walk as well…

And yet, as he thought more about his conversation with Trixie, the more he began to wonder… if maybe today was the day people decided that Robbie Rotten was an okay guy. If Trixie thought he was cool, maybe other people thought that too. What if the kids were starting to mature enough to realize he was  _ way _ cooler than SportaNerd?

_ Pfft… like that’ll ever happen… _

A small smile formed on his lips as he walked out from behind his billboard. He stretched for a moment, his eyes dancing over the trees and houses leading towards the center of town. Nothing seemed to be out of place. However, Robbie  _ did  _ notice that it was… quiet. It was a warm, sunny day, and yet he didn’t hear the bouncing of rubber balls or the squeals of playing children; not one peep.

His brow furrowed slightly, his mouth quirking to the side for a moment before he shook his head. “It’s almost too good to be true… but I’m  _ not  _ about to complain about it. Quiet is quiet, and quiet is  _ always  _ good.”

He sighed, and with another shake of his head he strode forward. The sound of his footsteps mingled with the soft ambience of distant birds; their songs carried past on a gentle breeze. Robbie smelled the air as it danced past him – detecting the scent of what  _ might  _ have been a pie or a cake baking somewhere in town. His smile deepened as he imagined sinking his teeth into a warm slice of pecan pie… the rumbling of his tummy that followed almost made him laugh. Almost.

_ I definitely need a snack after this,  _ he thought as his eyes drifted over to Slurp.  _ Maybe I  _ will  _ get that milkshake after all…  _

A sound in the distance stopped him from falling into a milkshake fantasy. Robbie froze, his arms raising almost defensively in front of him. He listened with wide eyes… and then frowned when he recognized the noise to be  _ singing _ . It almost sounded like that Bossy woman or whatever her name was, humming an unknown tune. His eyes followed the sound, and sure enough he saw her walking a little ways down the path.

She had a distant expression on her face as she hummed, strolling along with shopping bags on each of her arms. Occasionally she would switch from humming to sing a few ‘la la la’ sounds, her head swaying without a care in the world.

_ Miss Busyface…  _ Robbie let out a sigh of relief.  _ Thank god it wasn’t Sportaloony – and thank god that she’s too busy ‘singing’ to notice me… _

As if sensing herself being watched, her gaze turned towards the man. There was a moment of confusion before her eyes widened. He had been noticed. Robbie froze, standing awkwardly still as she opened her mouth as if to gasp.  _ Great _ , he thought to himself.  _ She’s probably going to scream for Sportacus that the ‘evil’ Robbie Rotten is going to steal her groceries or something _ …

Instead, she raised her hand and waved at him. “Afternoon, Robbie!” she called out, her voice faint but comprehensible.

Robbie frowned, slowly and hesitantly raising his hand to wave back. He expected that to be it – she would walk off to wherever she was going, and he’d be free to go on his way. However, that wasn’t what happened. She turned, almost abruptly, and started marching straight towards him. His eyes widened, noticing a look in her eyes that was… strange. Not once had she ever seemed keen on visiting with him – not even to gossip, which she did with  _ everyone _ .

Part of him wanted to dive back into his lair and forget about the stroll. It was too late to avoid her though, and soon she was not ten feet in front of him. “Robbie, just the gentleman I wanted to see!”

His mouth curled into an awkward smile. “Uh… hello,” he said, raising his hand slowly to wave again. She had quite a few groceries on her arms – stuff that looked like baking supplies, and maybe some cake mixes, but he couldn’t be sure, and he wasn’t going to be nosy about it. A thought then occurred to him that almost put a frown on his face.  _ Maybe she just wants me to carry her bags for her… _

“Yes, hello,” she said, looking him up and down slightly. He felt a bit confused by this gesture, crossing his arms over his chest as he gave her a smile. It wasn’t a genuine smile – in fact, he was sure it looked quite forced – but it was a smile nonetheless. Her eyes met his after a moment of  _ studying _ , and Robbie let out a nervous laugh.

“Is there… something you need?” he said, his teeth bared from the now completely forced and uncomfortable grin he wore. She returned the smile, a strange tone to the gesture he couldn’t place.

“Yes, Robbie dear,” she said, shifting the groceries slightly on her arms. “I was wondering what size suit you’re wearing.”

That… was not what he was expecting to hear. He had been adamantly sure she was going to shove the groceries into his arms at any moment – after taking her time to examine his physique; to see if he was  _ strong enough  _ he had figured. His hand snaked up to scratch the back of his head, his eyes narrowing. “Uh… come again?”

“Your suit,” she repeated. “What size is it?”

He blinked. He blinked again, his mouth falling open slowly. “Uh… I don’t recall,” he said. The words were completely honest – he made everything he wore, so the size he was wearing was  _ his  _ size. Something felt shady, and for a second he began to question her motives.  _ She’s not about to mug me, is she? _

“Oh, that’s fine,” she said, dropping the groceries on the ground carefully before pulling a tape measure out of one of her pockets. “I ask because my friend has a cousin that has your  _ same exact figure _ ! I promised my friend to help her find some clothes to give her cousin, since her cousin’s house burnt down in a fire that his neighbor’s dog caused by knocking over a pan full of cooking oil! He lost everything in the fire, his clothes and everything - and you know what? His neighbor ditched town to avoid being sued, and he had just lost insurance coverage for his home on top of that! Ah, how dreadful! He has no money for clothes and has been stuck in his  _ pajamas _ for two weeks.  _ Two weeks! _ ”

Robbie’s head was spinning, and he didn’t react as she began to stretch the tape measure against his shoulders and torso.  _ Forget soap operas, this girl knows some real quality drama!  _ He shook his head as she wrapped the tape measure around his ribs. Robbie was no stranger to having his measurements taken – his mother had done it all the time. Miss Bossy Bussy was  _ not  _ his mother though, and he couldn’t help but feel… uncomfortable about this experience. With a nervous laugh he pulled away. “Ah, I know my measurements… h-how about I write them down for you?”

“That would be splendid!” she said. Almost as quickly as she had pulled it out the tape measure vanished back into her pocket. Then she pulled out a pen and notepad. Robbie took it from her with an uneasy smile, and quickly jotted down his measurements. Once done he handed them to her, and in turn she smiled. “Excellent! Now I must be off – I have a lot to do!”

She turned, replacing the bags on her arms before trotting away. He watched her go, feeling more confused than when she came.  _ That… was strange _ . _ Very strange… _

For a while he stood there, visibly lost in thought as he tilted his head with narrowed eyes. His first instinct was to figure out the ‘real’ reason for their interaction – he was used to there being an ulterior motive when anyone talked to him. After all, he was a villain. People only talk to villains when they’re truly desperate. The story about some friend's cousin seemed rather suspect, and if she needed the measurements for the guy couldn’t she have just asked her friend? It was  _ weird _ for someone to just walk up to another person and ask them their clothing size.

He was quick to push aside these suspicious thoughts though. The secretary wasn’t someone he would consider to be harboring ulterior motives… though of course, it was hard to ignore the way she had the mayor wrapped around her fingers. Robbie didn’t doubt that there was real attraction between her and the mayor, but the way she tended to take advantage of the poor man from time to time  _ did _ make him wonder what she actually wanted out of their relationship…

Robbie felt an uneasiness fill his gut as he considered another possibility. The way she was eyeing his figure seemed a little bit too… indulgent. Could it be that the entire story was an excuse to  _ ogle  _ him? Well, Robbie  _ knew _ he was handsome, and really with the dull competition in town it made sense that someone would eventually try something like this. How could he blame a woman with good taste giving him a look over? Though… he  _ really  _ wasn’t interested in that type of attention – not from the ‘other side of the coin’ so to speak. A small shiver of discomfort ran up his spine.

_ I’d like to think that her of all people in town would  _ know  _ when they’re barking up the wrong tree… then again, maybe she doesn’t care.  _ Robbie shook his head, a small sigh escaping his lips.  _ Maybe… maybe I’m just reading too much into this. For all I know there really is some friend's cousin out there needing new clothes… _

_ And even if there isn’t, what’s the worst she could do with my clothing measurements? _

With a shrug he carried on with his stroll.

He turned down a path towards the center of town. Normally he would avoid this route like the plague – the kids tended to play very  _ loudly _ in the sports park adjacent to the pathway. Sometimes they would accidentally kick or throw their balls a bit too hard and send them flying out of the sports field and into Robbie’s face or stomach. He didn’t like to risk becoming human target practice for the tykes.

But today, as he had already observed, was not a normal day. The sports field was empty – not even Pinko or Blue Boy were there. Where there was normally the grating sound of balls on pavement there was nothing but  _ silence…  _ sweet, peaceful silence. Not a single ball was bouncing, or being kicked or thrown or hit by rackets. Best of all, there was no screaming… Robbie almost frowned; it was too good to be true.

As far as he figured, today was one of those delightful days the kids spent at Pixar’s house; playing video games like good children. But what if something else was going on? What if this was part of some game the kids were playing…

He remembered a certain game called ‘hide and seek’ that kids liked to play. While he didn’t know how the game was played, as he had never played it, he did know that it involved  _ hiding _ . Could it be that the brats were  _ hiding _ ? Robbie looked around him, glancing towards the basketball court, then to the soccer field, and then towards the stage at the far end of the field. He didn’t see anyone – or at least any  _ sign  _ of anyone.

Though as he gazed beyond the town stage, he saw something strange at town hall. He couldn’t quite tell what it was… Robbie strode towards the building, squinting as he continued to study the strange phenomenon. Once he was beside the stage he paused; he placed his hands on his hips, tilting his head.

“Huh…” he said. A big red tarp was covering the three large pillars of town hall’s front entrance – the door leading into the mayor’s office was completely concealed. There were traffic cones all over the front steps, and right in front of the tarp was a sign. The sign read, ‘under construction’.

_ Construction? Are they remodeling town hall?  _ Robbie brought a hand to his chin, frowning as he did so. He didn’t hear any machinery, and there weren’t any construction crew that he could see. Of course, the crew could be inside working – but where were their cars and trucks? There was also the question of what exactly they were doing construction on. Last time he checked there was nothing wrong with the building – none of his more recent schemes had done anything to damage it. Not to mention that the town  _ really  _ didn’t have the funds for any sort of special remodeling work… Robbie hummed a note of confusion as he narrowed his eyes.

_ Maybe Miss Busybody convinced the poor mayor to put a nail salon in his office… nah, she wouldn’t do that… and even if she tried, Sportacus would have raised a fuss about how it’s wrong to use ‘public funds’ for ‘personal facilities’… _

Robbie froze as another possibility occurred to him. His frown deepened as he considered it further. What if this ‘construction’ had something to do with that flipadoodle in blue? He and that pink pixie could have convinced the mayor to build  _ health facilities  _ in town hall. For all he knew they could be building a gym in there at that very moment, or worse… a  _ salad bar. _

“Eugh…” Robbie said, physically shivering in disgust. “It’s too horrible to imagine!”

He placed a hand against one of the stage pillars, feeling the sudden urge to faint overcome him. Once taking a few breaths to calm down, and allowing his grip on the pillar to steady himself, he began to scowl.  _ Hell would boil over before LazyTown ever put in a salad bar – I would invent a ‘hell boil over’ machine to make sure of it! It would shoot fireballs and lasers, and the first thing it would destroy would be that blue footed booby’s floating garbage barge! _

Robbie looked up, his eyes searching the sky for that confounded blimp – just to scowl at it… and to his surprise, he didn’t have to look very long.

It was right above him.

_ Has that been there this whole time? How did I not notice it?!  _ With a gulp he pulled away from the stage pillar, staggering backwards a few steps. If Robbie had learned anything in the past few years that he’d had the displeasure of knowing Sportacus, it was that wherever that blimp was… Sportacus was not far. The last thing Robbie wanted or needed was to have another ‘pleasant conversation’ with that menace.

He could only imagine what silly thing Sportacus would bother him with this time. ‘Robbie’ he’d say, ‘I need your help in sampling all known fruits on earth!’, or he’d say, ‘Robbie I need to add how much you can bench press to the census information!’

The thought of it was enough to make his blood run cold.

So Robbie did something he was very good at; he hid.

The children had a small wooden play fort close to the town stage. It had been semi-abandoned ever since the kids built their treehouse – meaning that no one would be there, and no one would look for him there. He scurried over to it, walking backwards as to keep an eye on the blue blimp of death. Even as he ducked inside the tiny fort he kept his eyes on it.  _ I won’t let that thing sneak up on me again… _

He barely managed to pull his head inside. Sometimes he forgot just how… tall he was. His legs were pulled uncomfortably tight against his chest, his neck bent in a way that was already starting to hurt. Robbie wiggled a little, trying to position his knees outwards in a way that was somewhat comfortable.

Though in trying to do so, he nudged something… well, someone. Robbie’s eyes went wide, and he turned with a jolt. He was met with little blue eyes, which were narrowed as they looked up at him. Their owner seemed confused, perhaps even a bit shocked; he had paused in eating his giant lollipop mid-lick. After a moment, he pulled his tongue back into his mouth and spoke.

“… Robbie Rotten?” Ziggy said. Robbie could only blink, just as confused as Ziggy probably was. He was about to ask the kid what he was doing there… though he stopped himself when he remembered that  _ he  _ was the one intruding in the kids fort. If anyone got to ask that question, it would be Ziggy. Still, he took the time to give the kid a quick once over.

He was wearing his usual ‘superhero’ get up – nothing unusual there. Besides the confused expression on his face, there didn’t seem to be anything odd about the kid... however, for some reason, there was a sizable pile of candy in front of him. Robbie knew that Ziggy liked candy, but there was enough of the sweets there to stuff a pillowcase. There were fun sized candy bars and lollipops and taffy – a few sour candies as well. It was a good arrangement of sweets; a lot like his own personal candy stash back at home.

Robbie was about to compliment the kid on his tastes… though was stopped as the kid gasped. His little blue eyes darted between Robbie and the candy, his mouth wide as what seemed to be  _ panic  _ formed on his face.

“Oh no, don’t look!” Ziggy said, his voice cracking with alarm. Before Robbie could say or do anything, Ziggy tossed his lollipop aside and began to shove the candy into his pockets – hiding the massive stash in a matter of seconds. Robbie rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he shook his head. While stealing candy from babies was part of a super villains job, he wasn’t ‘on the clock’ so to speak… and he wasn’t desperate enough to eat any of Ziggy’s candy. He saw how the kid treated his lollipops – licking them and sticking them anywhere and everywhere. Whatever candy Ziggy had in his pockets probably had more lint in them than sugar.

“I’m not going to  _ steal _ your sweets,” Robbie said, sighing as he looked down at the kid. Ziggy crawled to his feet, shoving his probably sticky hands into his pockets. Then, swallowing nervously, he put on a noticeably fake smile. He shrugged at the villain with a faint chuckle.

“W-What sweets?” Ziggy said, his voice tense. “I-I don’t have any sweets.”

Robbie frowned. It was an obvious lie – he knew it, and Ziggy knew that he knew it. “I  _ just _ saw you shove a bunch of candy into your pocket.”

“… No I didn’t,” Ziggy said, his body going stiff as his gaze shifted to the ground.

“Yes you did,” Robbie said, nodding insistently as he uncrossed his arms. He pointed at the kids pants, gesturing at the practically overflowing pockets. “Come on, I’ve heard better lies from  _ babies _ , Ziggo.”

“It’s Ziggy,” Ziggy said.

“Whatever,” Robbie said, rolling his eyes for the second time. “Look, I  _ promise _ I’m not going to steal any of your candy, okay? So stop trying to lie – you aren’t very good at it.” 

Ziggy paused for a moment, as if considering what Robbie said. After a few seconds he shrugged again, shaking his head with an emotion Robbie couldn’t place. “You promise not to steal my candy, huh?”

There was a strange tone to the kids voice that made Robbie’s brow quirk. “Yes, I  _ promise _ \- come on, who do you take me for? Why would I steal your candy? Why would I steal  _ anyone’s  _ candy?”

“Well… you stole Miss Busybody’s cake that one time,” Ziggy said, looking at Robbie with a playful smile. “And all the candy that was on the cake.”

_ You got me there…  _ Robbie cleared his throat, a nervous smile of his own forming on his face. “Yeah… but that was a one-time thing. Come on, I’m a  _ villain _ not a thief!”

Ziggy removed one of his hands from a pocket, bringing it up to his chin; a small piece of toffee was stuck to the back of his hand. Robbie swallowed a chuckle, nearly snorting as he watched the kid. Ziggy returned the gaze with narrowed though still friendly eyes. “What about the time you stole Sportacus’s shoes – and his clothes? Or Pixel’s Remote-Controlley 6000? Our Sportscandy? Sportacus’s memory?”

Robbie froze, blinking a few times. “… well-”

“There was also the time you took our Sport’s equipment- actually, you did that more than once. Wait, you  _ also  _ took our Sportscandy more than once too… how many times did you do that, three?”

“Now hang on-”

“You also stole my teddy bear, and Sportacus’s crystal, you also stole  _ Sportacus  _ a few times, and that one Johnny Appleseed guy- wait, does that count as stealing, or is that just kidnapping?”

“Okay, okay you’ve made your point!” Robbie said, pressing his palms together in front of his face. He sighed, opening and closing his eyes slowly as he exhaled out of his nose. “While I may have  _ temporarily  _ taken possession of a  _ few  _ things that weren’t mine, that doesn’t mean I’m gonna steal your candy, okay?”

Ziggy was smiling – a mischievousness to the act that he  _ clearly  _ learned from Trixie. “I don’t know… are you  _ sure  _ that you promise?”

Robbie rolled his eyes for the  _ third  _ time. He raised his hand to the boy, his fingers closed against his palm – except for his little finger, which he offered to the boy. “ _ Pinky  _ promise.”

Ziggy’s face melted into a delighted grin, his eyes going wide as he took Robbie’s pinkie with his own. “Pinkie promise!”

Robbie barely managed to stifle a look of disgust; Ziggy’s finger was _very_ sticky. As the kid pulled his hand away, a string of what was either gum of taffy remained – tethered between the two fingers until Robbie pulled his hand away. He tried to wipe the candy off on the ground, though that only managed to get his hand stuck to the wooden floor of the fort. He let out a repulsed groan as he forced his hand free. “Haven’t you ever heard of keeping your candy _in_ the wrapper?”

Ziggy looked down at his hand, a look of confusion on his face. The look quickly melted into an excited smile. “Oh,  _ that’s  _ where I put my gum! Sorry Robbie - sometimes I start a piece of gum and then I want to eat a different candy, so I stick my gum somewhere safe until I’m done with my other candy… though sometimes I forget where I put my gum… or that I had a piece of gum.”

Robbie couldn’t help but gag. “Eugh… why do you even  _ have  _ all this candy? I thought Sportaflop told you to ‘eat candy in moderation’ or something.”

Ziggy’s smile quickly faded, his eyes going wide before darting to the ground. “Uh… no reason…”

_No reason, huh?_ Robbie’s eyes narrowed as he studied the boy. He was definitely hiding something – and it wasn’t just the candy. Ziggy was never one to feel bad about eating candy. In fact, he was practically _shameless_ when it came to eating sweets… at least, that’s how it was until Sportaflop came to town. Now he ate things like _carrots_ and _grapes_ , and only ate candy on the weekends; all because Sportacus said candy was bad…

A lightbulb went off in Robbie’s mind. He crossed his arms as a villainous smile formed on his face. “Could it be… that you’re  _ sneaking  _ candy without telling Sportacus?”

Ziggy froze, raising his head to look at Robbie with narrowed eyes. There seemed to be more confusion in his eyes than shame – as if he didn’t understand what Robbie had said. For a few seconds he just stared at the villain… until a lightbulb of his own seemed to go off, and his eyes widened. “Um… yes. Yes, that’s it- you caught me Robbie… I have all this candy because I’m  _ sneaking  _ it from Sportacus…”

Robbie shook his head, smiling with more pride than he’d ever say. He uncrossed his arms to pat the kid on the shoulder. “Atta boy! I knew you were too smart to buy into that ‘candy is bad for you’ nonsense.  _ Everyone  _ knows that candy is the best thing for you – it helps you sleep and be good and lazy!”

“Yeah…” Ziggy said, baring his teeth in an awkward smile. He rubbed the back of his head as his gaze shifted to the ground. He rocked forwards and back, balancing between his heels and toes as a nervous chuckle escaped his lips. Robbie sighed as he watched the boy’s somewhat anxious behavior.

_ Poor thing… so brainwashed by that smurf that he’s terrified to eat candy! _

“Come on,” Robbie said, pointing to one of the boy’s pockets. “I won’t tell anyone – have a few pieces of candy, and if Sportacus comes around and sees I’ll tell him I ‘forced’ you to eat it, so you won’t get in trouble.”

Ziggy looked at him for a moment, neither nervousness nor delight on his face – if anything, he looked shocked. “… you would do that for me?”

Robbie returned Ziggy’s look with a quirked brow. “Why wouldn’t I? You want to eat candy and I want you to eat candy. If Sportacus has a problem with that, then I have a problem with that – he can suck eggs as far as I’m concerned.”

“… suck… eggs?” Ziggy said, tilting his head as his eyes narrowed. “Why would Sportacus suck an egg?”

Robbie frowned slightly, nearly snorting as he waved his hand dismissively. “It’s an old expression. It means ‘get lost’ or ‘go away’.”

“Oh…”

“Just have some candy kid,” Robbie said, pointing at Ziggy’s pocket again. “Live a little.”

“Well… okay,” Ziggy said, slowly reaching a hand into his pocket. After a few seconds of fishing around, he pulled out a clump of candies. He watched as Ziggy picked out a piece of taffy from the selection. It was blue, probably ‘blue raspberry’ flavored. Robbie liked that flavor. As Ziggy began to unwrap the piece, he paused. His gaze lifted to meet Robbie’s. “Say… do you like taffy?”

“… why ask me?” Robbie said, looking between the kid and the candy. “I’m not the one eating it.”

A frustrated expression formed on Ziggy’s face. “Say that you  _ were _ , though – do you like taffy?”

He sighed. “I like  _ all _ candy, Zingy.”

“Ziggy,”

“Right, right,” Robbie said, sighing slightly. “Look… if it’s candy, I like it –  _ seriously _ , I haven’t met a single piece of candy that I didn’t like.”

“What about  _ Sports _ candy?” Ziggy said.

“Fruit isn’t candy and you  _ know _ it kid,” Robbie said, barely managing to hold back a rant as he pointed at the kid. “I won’t tolerate blasphemy in this fort – call it what it is or find another place to hide, okay?”

“Okay, okay…” Ziggy said, raising his free hand defensively between the two of them. A confused frown formed on his face. “… what does ‘blabamy’ mean?”

“… don’t worry about it,” Robbie said, rolling his eyes with a soft groan. “Just don’t take candy’s name in vain and you’ll be fine.”

“Uh… okay,” Ziggy said, his gaze shifting to the ground for a moment before returning to Robbie. He put on a friendly smile, his expression hinting at curiosity. “What are your  _ favorite  _ candies?”

“My favorites?” Robbie said, narrowing his eyes. “Why does that matter? If I like them all then there isn’t really a point to having any favorites.”

“Oh come on Robbie, everyone has favorite things!” Ziggy said, a hint of laughter to his voice. “I like all candy – just like you – but my favorites are lollipops and  _ taffy _ … I would be happy eating any candy, but I would be  _ especially  _ happy eating those kinds. What kinds of candy make you especially happy, Robbie?”

Robbie paused, thinking for a moment. “I… like saltwater taffy a lot… and chocolate.”

“Oooo,” Ziggy said, a strange glint in his eyes as a big smile formed on his face. “What kind of chocolate do you like?”

“Like I said, I like all candies – and that includes all chocolates,” Robbie said, though after a moment a small frown formed on his face. “But… dark chocolate is gross now that I think of it. There’s barely any sugar in it, and it tastes like dirt – it  _ barely  _ counts as candy, and even then it’s candy for people who want a treat but don’t want to feel too ‘guilty’ about it… I also don’t like those chocolates with coconut in them. They make my tongue feel weird and I can’t stand the texture.”

Ziggy was silent for a moment, his gaze on the floor of the fort as he finally put the piece of taffy in his mouth. He chewed, swallowed, and then returned his hands to his pockets. After a moment, a hand reemerged, but this time it was holding a full-sized candy bar. Robbie hadn’t noticed it in the pile of candy before… though of course, Ziggy didn’t give him much time to examine it before he ‘hid’ it all.

“Here,” Ziggy said, extending his hand out slowly with a smile. “You should have some candy too… as thanks.”

Robbie looked at the bar hesitantly. It was a Coco Crispy Crunch – he enjoyed them quite a bit, but he felt weird taking it. He couldn’t remember the last time someone shared candy with him… or if anyone had  _ ever _ shared candy with him. Was this some sort of trick? Would Ziggy pull the candy bar away as he was taking it and say ‘sike’ and laugh? With a hesitant, shaking hand, Robbie reached out and grabbed the candy. Ziggy didn’t say sike, didn’t pull it away… he just let him take it.

Just like that.

“Uh… thank you, Ziggy,” Robbie said, looking between the boy and the candy. Ziggy smiled even wider, something Robbie didn’t think was possible. He went to open the candy, though after a moment he paused. “Wait… why are you thanking me?”

“Because of what you said,” Ziggy said, his voice soft. “About lying to Sportacus so I wouldn’t get in trouble.”

_ He wants to thank me for  _ that _?  _ Robbie frowned, his eyes locking on the piece of candy. Surprisingly, the thing wasn’t sticky – strange, considering it came from Ziggy’s ‘collection’ of sweets. Compared to any other candy in Ziggy’s pocket, this was probably the nicest piece.

He didn’t deserve it.

“… but I didn’t  _ actually _ do that you know,” Robbie said, shrugging as he fidgeted with the candy. “You don’t need to thank me – really, you shouldn’t. Here, take your candy back.”

Ziggy’s eyes narrowed as Robbie extended the candy back to him, a small frown forming where his smile had just been. “It’s the thought that counts, Robbie – it’s nice to know that you care… which is why I’m giving you the candy.”

“… because I ‘ _ care’ _ about you?” Robbie said, pulling the candy back towards himself… though only just slightly. His frown deepened at what the kid had said, a small feeling of what may have been  _ guilt _ filling.  _ I wouldn’t exactly say that I ‘care’ about him… just because I don’t want him to get in trouble for eating candy doesn’t mean I’m some goody two shoes who cares about people… I’m a villain, and villains don’t ‘care’… nothing he could ever say would change that. _

“No,” Ziggy said, his smile beginning to return. “Because  _ I  _ care about  _ you _ .”

It was like being hit with a pillowcase full of quarters. Robbie couldn’t help but gape, his eyes growing wide. A strange feeling filled his chest. He might have called it  _ painful _ from how hot and piercing the feeling was… but for some reason, it felt good. It felt warm…

_ He… he cares… about me? _

His first instinct was to ask questions – because of course there had to be some mistake. People didn’t care about villains, no, they cared about heroes and their friends. He most certainly wasn’t a hero, and he wasn’t the kid’s friend either. Though… for a moment, Robbie might have considered otherwise.

Just for a moment.

He felt like arguing with the kid; at least attempt to sort out this mistake in the kid’s judgement. However, with a soft sigh, Ziggy began to climb out of the wooden fort. Robbie stammered, extending a hesitant hand towards the boy. “W-Where are you going?”

“To Stephanie’s house,” Ziggy said, looking down at Robbie. “Me and the other kids are supposed to meet up there – to have a ‘meeting’ or something.”

_ Good,  _ Robbie thought as his frown deepened.  _ That’s probably best – being around the other kids will bring him to his senses… _

“Okay…” Robbie said, his gaze shifting to the floor of the fort. He felt like saying something else… or perhaps he just felt like he  _ should _ . Of course, what was a villain supposed to say when a kid said that they cared about them? ‘You should get that looked at’ was a phrase that came to mind, or perhaps a simple ‘that’s your problem’ would do…

Instead, he cleared his throat… and smiled. “Have fun.”

A smile brighter than Robbie had ever seen formed on Ziggy’s face upon hearing that. “I will – see you tomorrow Robbie!”

With that Ziggy took off, skipping towards the mayor's house. Robbie watched for a moment, the smile still on his face… but then, as what Ziggy just said registered, he frowned. “Wait, why will I see you tomorrow?!”

If Ziggy had been a car, he would have audibly screeched to a halt. His back was turned to the villain, and he kept it turned as he shrugged. A nervous laugh followed. “Oh uh… I don’t know… bye!”

Ziggy broke into a run then – practically flying towards the red-roofed house. He didn’t stop until he was inside; he nearly slammed the door shut. Robbie’s eyes narrowed as he absentmindedly opened up his candy.  _ A bit presumptuous to assume I’m leaving my lair tomorrow… _

He took a bite of the candy, and his frown immediately disappeared. It was so rich and sweet, and the crispies crunched so satisfyingly. A sigh escaped his lips as the chocolate melted on his tongue.  _ Bliss… pure, perfect bliss! _

For a moment, everything was right in the world – it didn’t matter who had given him the candy, all that mattered was that it was delicious. Though as he took another bite, he couldn’t help but picture the smile Ziggy had on his face as he gave him the candy. Ziggy was always smiling, but that smile had been directed at  _ him _ . It made him feel the same way as earlier that day, when Trixie had called him a ‘good villain’…

_ These dang kids are trying to rip the evil right out of me, I swear,  _ Robbie thought… though, strangely enough, the idea didn’t upset him. The thought of the kids wasn’t making him scowl... in fact, he was still smiling. Robbie looked down at his now empty candy wrapper. 

_ If it means that the kids actually  _ like _ me… _

_ Maybe being a little good wouldn’t be such a bad thing.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //Sorry for the long delay in updates. This year has sucked the motivation right out of me, as I'm sure it has with many others. I will try and get the next chapter out sooner - thank you for your patience, and thank you all for the kudos and comments, they make my day.


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